CapeLinks Cape Cod: ProvincetownHistory: Settled 1714, named after Province Land (Meeshaum). Incorporated June 14, 1727, old style. Originally called Precinct of Cape Cod. June 12, 1813, part of Truro annexed and bounds between the towns established. March 2, 1829, part of Truro annexed and bounds again, established. March 30, 1836, part of Truro annexed.

Points of Interest:
The Pilgrim Monument.
Historical Museum.Norse Wall House.
Scenic Drive, through State Park Reservation.
Exhibitions by Provincetown Art Association.
Fishing industry, Town Wharf and Monument Dock.
The Provincetown Playhouse.
Provincetown Harbor, where the first white child was born in America, Peregrine White, a boy.
Church of St. Mary of the Harbor (Episcopal).
Bas relief, "Signing of Compact," on Tower Hill.

Pride of Provincetown
The people of Provincetown are genuinely proud of the historic fact that it was at Provincetown that the memorable voyage of the Mayflower came to an end. It was there that her anchor, last wet…

Lightning at Provincetown
Only one fatal accident occured during the construction of the Pilgrim Monument at Provincetown. A severe thunderstorm accompanied by lightning rent the skies of Provincetown on August 5, 1908.

The Romantic Past
For centuries the rendezvous of pirates, freebooters, fishermen, smugglers, adventurers of all nations, have contributed to Provincetown’s romantic past.

They Made Out Hunkey Dory
Here’s an old interesting commercial fishing story. On December 17, 1903, two Portuguese trawlers of Provincetown had a chilling if not thrilling experience.

Provincetown Captain Jumped Overboard
Or did he? Tongues wagged and gossip galore went about the Town of Provincetown when the schooner, Harriet Neal, Captain Pettingell in command, arrived in November, 1851, at Provincetown, with…

A Whale of a Breakfast
In the summer of 1951, a whale managed to get himself into one of the fishing traps in the harbor in the lee of Long Point at Provincetown.

Forest Buried Under Cape End
According to Gustavus Swift Paine, genealogist and Cape historian, the following may be read in a rare old volume, The American Geography, by Jedediah Morse, published in London in 1794.

Fishing: A Hard Life
Provincetown is still a fishing town although its whaling days are over. The fishing industry is carried on chiefly by the Portuguese. These men are daring and hardened to the discomforts and dangers…

Provincetown Monument
High Pole Hill has been a lookout for the sailors of Provincetown for many years. From a high pole to a windmill, from a town hall to a monument, there has always been some mark there to guide the ships…

The Sea Serpent
“Professor” George Washington Ready of Provincetown hid behind a sand dune and watched the monstrous creature rise out of the surf. It shot up geysers of spray, fifty feet high!

The Norse Wall
Thorwald Ericson, Leif Ericson’s brother, was said to be exploring the coast of Cape Cod about 1,000 years ago, when his ship was driven ashore at Provincetown in a terrible storm, in which the…

Old Town Clock
When the four faces of Provincetown’s Town Clock took to disagreeing with one another, they started one of the old town’s liveliest Town Hall debates in many a year.

Ship Ashore at Provincetown!
The cry “Ship ashore!” is still a thrilling one. Back in 1778, on the first day of November, it must have been more than thrilling. For the ship was the hated British ship Somerset.…

An Unusual Magnet
In countless ways Provincetown is a magnet that attracts thousands and thousands of visitors to itself every year. Down to the town at the tip of the Cape come visitors from every part of the nation,…

First In The World
The first written constitution in the world by which a government was created was the Mayflower Compact. The date of the Compact was November 11, 1620, by the Old Style calendar.

Seagoin’est Town
That Provincetown “is the seagoin’est town of New England, past and present,” is the contention of Howard Mitcham, writing in The Provincetown Advocate half a century ago, Mr. Mitcham…

The Blessing of The Fleet
Every summer fishing boats at Provincetown are augmented on a designated Sunday to form a grand fleet for the ceremony of blessing. This is one of the most colorful and spectacular events of the Cape…

Ye Olde Towne Crier
The Town Crier makes his headquarters in the Board of Trade Building, Provincetown. He marches up and down the streets, dressed in a fancy Pilgrim costume, ringing his bell, and pausing every now and…

The Beach was Main Street
“In the early days of Provincetown,” says J. D. B., in the Provincetown Advocate, “the beach between high and low water was the main thoroughfare of the town.” Anyone…

Prodigal Town
So cosmopolitan that is seems completely un-New England, is the town on the tip of the Cape. Given over to the jurisdiction of Truro in 1714, Provincetown’s free and merry way of living caused…

Fogs, Storms, and Tossing Billows
Were the frequent experiences of one of Cape Cod’s deep-sea skippers. Captain Manuel Enos was one of the Cape’s able mariners or deep-sea sailormen, a group that has vanished into history.

A Big City Take on PTown
A reporter from the Chicago Tribune visited Provincetown in 1900 and wrote the following: “Fish is bartered at the grocery stores, shoe shops and bread stores for all the commodities of life…”…

The Fleet’s In
One hundred twenty-five years ago, the last Grand Bank fishing vessel of a fleet of forty-two craft arrived at Provincetown. The total catch was 58,500 quintals (100 pounds to the quintal) of codfish.…

They Used Big Anchors
The pictures one sees which show the bow of some old sailing ship with her anchor catted (“hung up” on the out-side of her bow) invariably fail to give a true impression of the tremendous…

How the Cape Cod Towns Ranked in Whale Fishing 1854
The records of 1854 show that as a whaling port, Provincetown topped other Cape ports. Receipts of the whale fishery during the year were: Falmouth, 513 barrels whale oil, 1828 barrels sperm; Provincetown,…